]]>The Farm Production Assistant at Sharondale Farm is a part-time, entry-level position working with the farm team in all aspects of organic mushroom production from substrate preparation to sales.

We seek an individual who can manage his or her time and tasks to completion, and is interested in supporting, promoting, and developing local food. Starting wage is $10/hour with consideration commensurate with ability and work experience. Current position is 30-40 hours per week.

We will train the production assistant in many aspects of mushroom production including:

Substrate preparation

Inoculation techniques

Proper sanitation techniques

Harvesting and post-harvest handling

Food safety protocols and recordkeeping

Retail marketing and sales

Minimum qualifications for this position:

Must be able to initiate and complete tasks, maintain tools and equipment, keep records

]]>10503The Easiest Mushrooms to Growhttp://www.sharondalefarm.com/the-easiest-mushrooms-to-grow/
Wed, 19 Nov 2014 03:08:07 +0000http://www.sharondalefarm.com/?p=2353Growing mushrooms is not quite like growing a plant. But you do need plants to grow mushrooms, or at least cellulose and lignin. Many species...

]]>Growing mushrooms is not quite like growing a plant. But you do need plants to grow mushrooms, or at least cellulose and lignin.

Many species of oyster mushrooms grow wild and many are cultivated throughout the world. They are a great way to turn agricultural and forest byproducts, like straw and sticks, into nutritious and delicious edible protein. You can even grow oyster mushrooms on “waste” products of our everyday lives, including: coffee grinds, cardboard, and old cotton clothes. I encourage you to imagine and experiment, so you can add to our knowledge and understanding of what is possible with our fungal allies.

native pearl oyster

It is easiest to start growing mushrooms with our pure culture oyster spawn.

yellow oyster on an Ailanthus log

Spawn is the mushroom mycelium grown on different materials- spawn-sawdust, plugs, or grain- which can be directly inoculated to logs, sticks, straw or other growing substrates. You can grow oysters from wild, or store bought mushrooms, by making your own spawn, too. I’ll tell you how in a future blog.

Here in central Virginia, it is optimal to use the “softer” hardwood trees Tulip Poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera) or Tree of Heaven (Ailanthus altissima) for log cultivation of oyster mushrooms. Logs are best cut from live dormant trees and inoculated within several weeks. If you harvest logs while the tree has green leaves, stack them up and let the wood cells die for a couple of weeks before inoculating.

chainsaw inoculated oyster totem

Inoculating logs with plug spawn or sawdust spawn is easy. For plug spawn drill 5/16″ diameter holes, and for sawdust spawn about 1/2″ diameter holes, about 1 1/4″ deep in a diamond pattern into the log. Space the holes approximately 6-8″ along the length of the log and about 1.5-2″ around the diameter. Pack the holes with sawdust spawn, or hammer the plugs into the holes and cover the spawn with wax to prevent drying.

If you are using sawdust spawn you can cut wedges from the log, pack the sides of the cut with spawn and nail the wedge back into place. Or slice log discs or “tree cookies” about 3-4 inches long and layer spawn between the vertically stacked pieces to make a spawn sandwich.
Once inoculated, lay the logs in ground contact and mulch about ½ way and partially bury the logs. To make sure the logs do not dry out while the mycelium colonizes the log, irrigate or cover the logs with a plastic bag or sheet for a few weeks.

preparing a stick bundle

Not everyone can get logs for mushroom growing. If you have a tree branch you can grow oysters by cutting sticks to the same length (12-18″), remove a few strips of bark with a knife, and roll them in a bundle with sawdust spawn in a wet piece of cardboard. Tie the cardboard “log” together and place in a bag with holes. Follow the instructions below for inoculated substrate.

If you want to use straw or other dry plant material (garden weeds, kudzu, corn stover, etc) as a growing substrate, dry the material and chop it into smaller pieces (1-3 inches is optimal). This can be done with a machete, or power tool like a chipper/shredder, a lawnmower, a weed wacker in a barrel, or even by using a chainsaw to trim pieces off an intact bale.

lime pasteurization

To prepare the plant material to use as substrate, pasteurize it by soaking in a hot water bath (160F) for one hour. Or soak it for 12-20 hours in a barrel or bucket of cold water that has hydrated lime (make sure it has a low Magnesium level <2%), or wood ashes to change the pH to 10 or higher. For a small batch, you can soak it in water with 0.3% hydrogen peroxide for 12 hours (H2O2 from the pharmacy is usually 3%). Drain the substrate, and inoculate by mixing grain or sawdust spawn at 10-25% of the weight of the dry plant material. Experiment to optimize the spawn rate for your substrate. Compress the inoculated material into a container or plastic bag. Make sure you punch holes in the bag every few inches on the surface, because mushrooms need oxygen to grow; this is also where the mushrooms will emerge. Place this in a dark spot while the mycelium colonizes the substrate. If you want to grow on coffee grinds, mix cardboard pieces into the grinds, and place in a container or bag. Growing oysters on old cotton clothes is as easy as washing them, ringing out the excess water, inoculating, and bagging.

oysters growing on old jeans

Once the substrate is white with mycelium, place the bag in indirect light so mushrooms will form. If your growing place is dry, you can increase the humidity around the bag by spritzing with water a couple of times a day, or for larger production use a humidifier. Within a week or two you should see mushrooms forming. They will mature over several days and are ready to harvest when the edges of the largest caps start to turn upwards. Cook and Enjoy!

blue oysters on straw

To learn more about growing oysters and other mushrooms, join us for one of our workshops.

]]>2353Summer Mushroomshttp://www.sharondalefarm.com/summer-mushrooms/
Sun, 04 Aug 2013 02:05:21 +0000http://www.sharondalefarm.com/?p=1253Wow! We have been super busy this summer. In June, a tornado knocked down about a half acre of old forest right behind the house. ...

Wow! We have been super busy this summer. In June, a tornado knocked down about a half acre of old forest right behind the house. What an opportunity! We have been cutting mushroom logs, chipping branches, and cutting large logs for milling lumber. We will use the lumber to build a workshop pavilion in the clearing and we’ll plant more forest garden to capture this new found sunlight.

Six days before the storm, we completed a hoop house in the edge of the woods for growing temperate and tropical mushroom species. A couple of the hoops were slightly bent by falling branches, and it was no longer in the shade of a couple of 24″ diameter tulip poplar trees that snapped off in the wind. So, we installed shade cloth and are growing three different species of tropical oyster mushrooms, including yellow, pink, and a tan colored strain.

Reishi in the hoop house

Almond Portobello growing in the woods

Reishi also thrive in the warm humid environment of the hoop house. We are growing a locally collected variety and a commercial variety of Ganoderma lucidum, and a strain of the Golden Reishi (G. curtisii) from Tradd Cotter’s collection. Reishi in Japanese or Ling Chi in Chinese, is the ancient mushroom of immortality that has powerful medicinal value. Our friend Dawn Story at New Moon Naturals, blends our reishi with medicinal herbs for five excellent tea blends.

In addition to these fine wood rotters we are growing Almond Portobello (Agaricus subrufescens) in bag culture.

Almond Portobello

This has been an interesting learning experience. In the past we have had great success growing this mushroom in compost beds in the woods. Our experiments have so far yielded nice large mushrooms, the main harvest from bags will happen over the next several weeks. Most people like this mushroom, which is related to the white button mushroom, but smells and tastes like almond extract. It has gained much attention as an important medicinal mushroom.

And last but not least, is the delicious Velvet Pioppino (Agrocybe cylindracea, also known as A. aegerita).

Velvet Pioppino

I brought spores of this mushroom home from Thailand where it is extensively cultivated. So far, this is still in the experimental stage here but it seems to like the hardwood and wheat bran substrate we use for some other species. Hopefully this mushroom will become a standard offering to our local mycophiles.

]]>These videos were photographed using a simple digital camera with an interval timer.

Snowmelt and Shadows

Saturday March 9th at Sharondale Farm. A muddy but productive day, fun too!

Oyster Eruption

This video was made over the course of 6 days. It shows the development stages of the Pearl Oyster mushroom Pleurotus ostreatus from tissue organization and primordia formation to the mature fruiting bodies. The last frame shows the bag right after harvest and ready for a second flush.